Is Planet Orange Finally Out of the Darkness?

The Phoenix Suns opened up their post-All Star Game stretch with a win of epic proportions. I say epic, because it was the first game under interim head coach Alvin Gentry, and the result was a 140-100 victory over the LA Clippers.

Gentry said in his press conference after being named interim head coach, that the Suns needed to get back to "the break-neck pace" of the years under Mike D'Antoni. Boy did they ever.

I don't know if Gentry was specifically referring to D'Antoni's "seven seconds or less" shooting policy, or if he was just encouraging the Suns to speed things up on the offensive end in a relatively noticeable way.

Either way, it didn't end up mattering on Tuesday night. The Suns won the tip, ran a quick set for Shaq, who finished and got the foul. After that, there was no looking back. Every Sun seemed to take the "break-neck" comment to heart.

As soon as the Suns got a rebound or inbounded the ball after a Clipper make, they were able to get their shots off not only under seven seconds, but frequently under six, five, and four seconds.

The Suns led the Clippers 41-26 after the first quarter. I'm sure the prevailing thought from the fans in attendance was, "Did I just see what I thought I saw?" That quip was quickly answered in the second quarter.

The Suns had four-straight possessions in which they scored in under five seconds. That included what was arguably the most spectacular play of the game.

Off a Clipper miss, Louis Amundson grabbed the board dribbled a couple of times, slung it up court to Steve Nash who drove left, stopped, and lobbed for a trailing Amundson who flushed the alley-oop in kind.

Everyone in US Airways arena, including all of the players on the bench who were taken off their seats with the exciting play, seemed acknowledge that the Suns are back.

Stoudemire said of the game, "It felt totally different." Yeah, I bet. Terry Porter, while a great coach in my mind, was a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. He tried to take a team built for speed and make them play slow ball; he dragged every second off the shot clock before getting a decent look.

The Suns aren't built to play Big-10 basketball, their whole team concept is built around the concept of, "we are going to put up 110 or more every night, see if you can score more than us."

That concept was at odds with Terry Porter, and in many ways GM Steve Kerr. Kerr, after much criticism, and seeing his team failing to meet expectations, stuck his tail between his legs and fired Porter.

I think Kerr's head is in the right place, but he seemed to over think this team. Kerr should have treated the team like he did his role as a pro—shooting a three when he had 10 inches of space, no questions asked. If he had taken that approach, the Suns would be third or fourth in the Western Conference and not 13.5 games out of the division lead.

What has happened has happened. Shaq was brought in from Miami, speed was lost in Marion for the hope of defense, and the personnel to beat the Spurs. OK, it didn't turn out the greatest, the Suns were a game one, Duncan three-pointer from winning that series in five. Instead it went the other way in five.

They wanted to get a prolific wing man, so they traded for Charlotte's Jason Richardson, and lost arguably their best defender in Raja Bell. It has never made total sense to me.

As Suns fans, we can question the trades and the hiring of Terry Porter all we want. What we appear to have now is a D'Antoni guy in Gentry, who wants to play with speed again. What we got as a result was 140 points, and a 40-point victory.

The Clippers were without a big man, after Zach Randolph threw a punch at Louis Amundson and was ejected in the second quarter. They also left Marcus Camby in LA with an inner ear infection.

The Suns and the Clippers play again tonight, this time in LA. I don't expect the end result to be different, but the means of getting there probably will be. The question on every Suns fan's mind right now is, "was that for real?" and "can we do it against the teams that we are competing against for a playoff spot?"

"Planet Orange" has been in darkness since it won nine of twelve games between late Dec. and early Jan. Is this the time the sun to shine again on Planet Orange? 

A break-neck, 140-point performance is surely a good start.